It’s official: Chrysler bailout is a lemon

It could be a 2008 Viper, or it could be a prototype for the new Dodge Freeloader...Imported from Detroit, underwritten by you (Wieck)

Imported from Detroit…a big hickey for taxpayers. The Treasury Department made it official yesterday, saying we lost about $1.3 billion the government’s bailout of Chrysler. The good news is we’re out. The government sold its remaining 6 percent stake in the automaker to Fiat. Chrysler had repaid more than $5 billion in government loans, and overall the Treasury recouped about $11.2 billion of the original $12.5 billion bailout.

In an investment only a politician could love. The $1.3 billion is actually money lost from the bankruptcy of the old Chrysler, and the Treasury Department is actually feeling pretty good about the outcome, because the government expected to lose much more — around $40 billion.

After all, if Chrysler had been a good deal, some Wall Street hedge fund would have bought it. Instead, the hedge fund was the seller, which meant from the beginning this deal was destined to be a money-loser. So losing only $1.3 billion is cause for celebration in Washington.

So what’s next for Chrysler? Perhaps the introduction of a new gas-guzzling muscle car, the Dodge Freeloader.